Algorithms lurk in every aspect of our lives. From those Facebook “quizzes” you take, to your application for “12-months-same-as-cash” credit, to your job application (wait – what?), there is a statistical analysis and math formula which analyzes YOU and makes a recommendation.

While I don’t understand why ads for Tieks keep showing up on my Pinterest feed (never bought ’em, never will, don’t fit the demographic), it’s scary how accurately targeted some of those ads are.

Even scarier is when your personality test for employment cuts you from the pool of applicants.

September 20, 2016 – follow up: Last week I met with a client who because of health insurance issues, had to quit his job of nearly 20 years at a major retailer. After the insurance mess was cleaned up, he reapplied for the same job, was required to take a personality test – and failed. He was able to get back to the job by a round-about path, but for a former employee, who was with the same employer for nearly 20 years and was repeatedly commended in his job performance, this is a stark example of how math really doesn’t have all the answers. Nor do personality tests. And, we won’t even start about the insurance issues that forced him to quit his job….